Kerry Fulfils a Prophesy
by Anjion
Summary: The 11th Doctor and Kerry go back in time to Gallifrey, where Kerry finds herself in a dramatic rescue... Disclaimer: I don't own any characters apart from Marcastam, Valstrem, Ronan, Kerry and, possibly, Denny.
1. Chapter 1

"Doctor, next time we go on an adventure, I want to go right back into the Past," declared 11-year-old Kerry-Anne as she watched the Doctor poring over a tiny control panel on the large, six-sided, mushroom-like console in the centre of the TARDIS.

"If you like," replied the Doctor absently, without looking up. This was a good sign in Kerry's opinion, as it meant that she could suggest anything, however outrageous, to him and, because he wasn't listening properly, he'd often agree before he'd registered what she'd actually just said. She decided to see if this trick would work now.

"Back in Time _and_ to another planet," she continued, "a planet that few have ever set foot on before."

The Doctor nodded slightly. "Sounds good to me," he murmured, still absorbed in the tiny display in front of him. Kerry decided to go one step further.

"Hmm. Where? Aha! I know! Gallifrey!" She looked sideways at the Doctor, but, getting no response, she added, in a gentle voice, "Will you take me to Gallifrey? Right back in the Past?"

This time, she gained the Doctor's full attention.

"What? Oh, yeah, I don't see w..." He broke off abruptly and spun round, sending his long brown hair into a frenzy. "Hang on, _what _did you just say?" Without giving Kerry a chance to reply, he continued, "No, no, don't tell me, you said you wanted to go to Gallifrey, didn't you? I…" He babbled on for a while longer until he saw Kerry giving him an innocent 'What's-wrong-with-that?' face. He stopped and sighed.

"Look, Kerry, I'd like nothing more than to take you to Gallifrey, but I can't, you know I can't. Human's aren't allowed there for a start."

"Well, from what you've told me, Sarah Jane's been there, Tegan's been there, Turlough's been there… I'll give you, Turlough wasn't human – he's an alien (apparently) – but he isn't Gallifreyan either! But Sarah and Tegan were human and _they've _been there - why not me?"

"I…" began the Doctor, but Kerry cut him off, struggling to control her suddenly rising temper.

"I'm not special enough, is _that_ it?" she demanded.

"No! Of course not!" The Doctor ran his hands through his floppy fringe and looked flustered. "Sarah, Tegan and Turlough got there by accident." He explained. "Sarah had the TARDIS land on her and that somehow transported her there; Tegan and Turlough were travelling with my Fifth incarnation when the TARDIS got diverted there; and Susan was Gallifreyan anyway." Kerry still looked unconvinced, and there was a hint of suspicion in her brown eyes. The Doctor was trying to keep _his _cool now.

"It wasn't planned!" he added with rather more force than was necessary. He turned away to hide the sadness in his eyes before continuing in a gentler tone. "Besides, as I've told you before, Gallifrey was destroyed in the Time War against the Daleks. Gallifrey no longer exists."

But Kerry had somehow expected this and had planned her argument in advance.

"But if we travel back in Time, it will exist again, won't it?" she pointed out.

"I suppose so, yes, but…"

"I think you're afraid of going back there," Kerry interrupted bluntly, in a quiet voice. She looked deep into his eyes, and he held her gaze for a few seconds, surprised by her bluntness. Then he turned away, considering. Finally he turned back to face her.

"Alright, you win," he said, "but I'm warning you; if anything happens that might endanger our lives, or alter my Timeline, we are leaving. No questions, immediately. Got it?"

"Agreed," Kerry agreed graciously.

"Good."

The Doctor straightened his red bow-tie as Kerry took up her position at the console. (Kerry had almost bullied the Doctor into showing her how to operate at least a small section of the TARDIS controls and, with his usual companions Amy and Rory briefly visiting an idyllic planet called Sun of Tranquility 3 (not actually a sun, though), the Doctor, at a loss as to what to do, had given in to her request.)

"By the way, what _are _you wearing?" asked Kerry as the Doctor pushed his hair out of his eyes and took up a spot on the opposite side of the console. The Doctor grinned suddenly, clearly pleased that Kerry had noticed, reached up and lifted the garment in question from his head (how he had found the time to put it there in the few seconds since agreeing to this escapade, Kerry never knew!) It was a hat; a tall, floppy, red-and-white affair that reminded Kerry very much of that…

"It's my '_Cat in the Hat'_ hat!" explained the Doctor proudly, interrupting Kerry's train of thought. "Dr Seuss gave it to me." He then went off at a tangent, describing the exact circumstances in which he had received the hat; dancing around the console like a maniac on fire, pressing buttons, flicking switches and pulling levers at a phenomenal speed as he set their destination for a much earlier Gallifrey and powered up the engines. The console's central column began to rise and fall steadily as the TARDIS prepared to take off and the familiar, scraping '_vworp, vworp_' noise drowned out the Doctor's banter as the TARDIS dematerialized, and was gone.

* * *

The small, peaceful meadows that surrounded the Gallifreyan Panoptican were rarely disturbed, and the native wildlife lived peaceful, fruitful lives. A small group of oversized rabbits were nibbling on flowers that vaguely resembled cowslips in one of these meadows, and a flock of bright, yellow-and-blue birds sang merrily in the hedgerows.

Suddenly the rabbits bolted for their holes and the movement startled the birds, who took flight as one, shrieking with terror. The wind appeared to be picking up quite dramatically and soon a small area of grass whipped up as if in a miniature whirlwind. A single, curious rabbit now darted for cover as the TARDIS materialized in the field, fading into existence accompanied by the strange, grating noise.

Inside, the Doctor had resumed his crazy dance around the console, making all the necessary adjustments to ensure the TARDIS didn't fly off again without them, and Kerry, having reached for the television-like scanner and pulled it towards her, was fiddling with the two dials in an attempt to get it to the 'scanner' frequency (the Doctor used it for other things too- and invariably left it showing white static). She eventually succeeded and a clear view of the landscape outside appeared on the screen. Kerry could see that they'd landed in a field (a _meadow_, the Doctor corrected her) of bright red grass and that a few tentative rabbits were re-emerging from their burrows to see what had disturbed them. She could also see that the sky was a vivid orange.

"Orange sky! Not something you see every day!" she said, impressed. The Doctor joined her, peering at the screen.

"Orange, blue…doesn't make a lot of difference _really_," said the Doctor, straightening his jacket, "I once went to a planet that had a _green_ sky. Arcopolis, it was." He reached behind him and tapped a button with a flourish, and the scanner went dead.

"Come along, young Kerry!"

Kerry hung back. "Um, don't you think you should leave the hat behind?" she suggested.

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, just- oh, never mind. Lead on, Doctor."

"Hmmph! Leave my hat behind, indeed! Why should I?" harrumphed the Doctor to himself, sulkily. "_'Cat in the Hat'_ hats are cool! The Cat had a cool hat. _'Cat in the Hat'_ hats are _cool_!" Then he marched purposely out of the TARDIS, Kerry following close behind.

Outside, the landscape looked even more stunning and Kerry could see at least two suns hanging in the sky (the second one rose in the south, the Doctor told her), saturating the large, silver-leafed trees with their rays, and a few of the sparrow-sized yellow-and-blue birds flew, singing, overhead ("They're called Flutterwings." said the Doctor) as she and the Doctor made their way towards the City. When it finally came into view, Kerry couldn't help but gasp. Dominating the landscape was a large, magnificent structure that blazed a beautiful, fiery orange, despite the large, transparent dome that encased it, and even against the golden-red backdrop of the planet, it was enough to take one's breath away.

_Wow! _thought Kerry, _Amy and Rory don't know what they're missing!_

"The Citadel." stated the Doctor, with a hint of pride, as they made their way towards it.


	2. Chapter 2

The small group of colourfully dressed Gallifreyans were standing in a huddle, talking quietly and almost frantically amongst themselves. They all wore long, shimmering robes, some had large, heavy-looking, club-shaped 'collars' (Kerry couldn't think of any other word to describe them) – which stuck up rigidly behind the wearer's head – resting on their shoulders, and most had flat, colour-coordinated caps on their heads. Behind them, the large, emerald green building (which the Doctor called the Panoptican) glowed, reminding Kerry of the Emerald City in '_The Wizard of Oz'_ as she stood listening to the Gallifreyans' hushed discussion.

"I take it there has been no sign of the boy, then?" one was saying, almost calmly. He stood the tallest of the group by a couple of inches, and his every move was full of the grace of a person in authority. The others stood as close as was respectful, and there was no doubt that this individual was the leader of the group.

"No Sir. My men and I have searched everywhere we can think of, every day and night since he disappeared." replied another, clearly some kind of soldier judging by the various weapons (at least, that's what Kerry assumed they were) that hung from his belt.

"What about the Forbidden Caves?" suggested a third, almost as if he was afraid of the words. He stood closest to the leader, making Kerry wonder if he could be the second-in-command.

"With all due respect, Sir, we dare not venture into the Forbidden Caves, Sir" admitted the soldier hurriedly, and the few similarly dressed men nodded in agreement. By way of an explanation, he added, "We would certainly _never_ return, and it is so treacherous, it is impossible that the boy would survive if he _has _gone in there, which I am most certain he hasn't."

"Your meaning is that if the boy has indeed entered the Caves, it is then insensible to go after him as he will probably be dead." said the leader with the air of one who wishes to hear someone confirm what he already knows.

"Yes, Sir, that is my meaning."

"How long has this boy been missing?" Kerry asked, unable to remain quiet. "And what are these Forbidden Caves?"

The Gallifreyans turned to look at her, not showing the slightest bit of surprise at her sudden appearance (or perhaps not noticing that she wasn't one of them), and then the leader motioned for his second-in-command to tell her, who complied.

"The youngster has been missing for a few days – four, maybe five." He explained in a honey-sweet voice. "A group of our soldiers," – he indicated the soldiers present – "took him out with them when they went out to patrol the perimeter of the City. They returned without him."

"We think he must have left our group to explore." added the soldier, looking shamefaced. "He often wandered around in the City and exploring."

The second-in-command nodded in solemn acknowledgement of his words, then continued, "As for the Caves, they are situated on the outskirts of the City in the North Quadrant. They are highly dangerous and few who enter them ever come out."

When it became clear to Kerry that her questions had been answered in full, and that no other information was going to be disclosed, she thanked the colourful Gallifreyans and moved away, back towards the TARDIS. The Doctor, who had silently joined her at some point during her conversation, put his hand gently on her shoulder and murmured, "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

If Kerry had been listening, she would have replied "I don't know; it depends on what you think I'm thinking." As it was, however, she just said "We've got to see if he's in there. And if he is, we've got to get him out."

"I thought you'd say that." the Doctor muttered quietly as they neared their spaceship.

"Well? Don't you agree?" Kerry said hotly, suddenly alert.

The Doctor, trying to think of an answer that approached the problem from a different angle, finally said, "We can try a scanner check on the Caves first – if they exist, which I'm sure they do – and then…then we can decide whether to go in or not. And if we can't scan them…"

"We go in anyway." said Kerry firmly, looking into his eyes. The Doctor gave a defeated sigh and held the TARDIS door open for her before following her inside.

* * *

The tall, cloaked figure hurried along the complex maze of tunnels deep below Gallifrey, the seemingly endless row of small, everlasting lights that lined the tunnels casting eerie shadows on the walls as he flitted past. Presently he came to a strong, wooden door studded with jewels; rubies as large as a man's fist glittered around the edge, and a single, huge sapphire was embellished in the centre of the door where it glowed malevolently. The cloaked man knocked firmly and after a pause a rough, croaky voice bid him enter. The room within was larger than one would expect, and was bathed in soft green and blue light from a collection of tall candlesticks dotted around the room. A large mirror was situated on the wall opposite the door (so that even if the occupant of the room had their back to the door, they could see those who entered the room, and the cloaked visitor saw himself reflected in the glass. A vast oak desk stood in the centre of the room, and sat behind it was a small, red-robed person whose face was obscured by the dense shadows of a vast hood. A bony hand rested on the desktop, and a playful inkwell kept darting eagerly to an outstretched, twig-like finger.

"They have arrived, your Honour." announced the visitor, bowing to the owner of the hands. "A man and a girl, as you said."

There was a pause. The whole room seemed to be listening – even the candles ceased to flicker, their blue and green flames standing erect and motionless. After what seemed like an age, the mysterious creature at the desk spoke in a wizened voice that rasped in his throat.

"Make sure they are not hindered in any way." he commanded, and then he stood up so suddenly that the little inkwell leapt backwards so far it nearly fell off the desk and cowered, trembling, on the edge. The old man scooped the little thing up and stroked its black lid soothingly. Then, in an ancient and cracking, yet somehow strong and almost triumphant voice, he declared,

"For the Prophesy has begun!"

* * *

The central column on the TARDIS console gradually slowed to a stop as the TARDIS landed once again. Kerry watched on the scanner as the Time-machine settled outside the Forbidden Caves. True to the name, the Caves did indeed look forbidding – almost like a crouching cat would look to a tiny mouse. Kerry shuddered at the thought of anyone ever going in there, and she could understand why even Time Lords would be afraid of the place. _I do hope he's not in there _she thought to herself, though she had a feeling he was.

"Right!" said the Doctor authoritatively. "Let's scan these Caves!"

Kerry moved round the console to the Doctor's side, pulling the dangling scanner with her. She positioned it so both she and the Doctor could see it, and watched attentively as his fingers started flying over the keys of the tiny control computer so fast, they were just a blur. After about a minute of high-speed tapping, an image – or rather a black screen covered in white gridlines – appeared on the screen. As the Doctor went off into yet another spiel about the results of this process, Kerry peered at the screen, trying to make out any details. The Doctor realised that Kerry wasn't listening and ceased babbling, instead reaching out and touching a few more buttons on the panel before him. all at once, the image on the scanner became much clearer, and a plan of the Caves showed that the network of tunnels within was not as complex as it had been expected to be. Most of the tunnels branched off another, larger and wider tunnel that ran all through the Caves and beyond, and these smaller tunnels were either dead ends or connected to one another in such a way that they eventually led back onto the main tunnel.

"Wow, look at this," murmured the Doctor to himself. " This is almost as bad as the Death Zone."

"Er, Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Are we looking for the boy or admiring the interior of the Caves?"

"Hang on, I was just getting to that!" A few more seconds at the keyboard and four interlocking lines began to move on the screen, outside edge to centre, over and over as the Caves were scanned for life-forms. Then the motion stopped, the scanner gave a high-pitched beep and a message flashed up in white lettering that read 'LIFE-FORM DETECTED'. Immediately below that, a smaller, still paragraph read 'ANIMAL-SPECIES: BAT-NATIVE PLANET: GALLIFREY.'

"Oh, it's only a bat," said the Doctor, disappointed, as he watched the small red blob that represented the bat flit across the screen. The scanner continued its scan and five minutes later it had identified no less than twenty bats plus a large rat, each represented by a blob that had its respective information floating underneath. Kerry had almost gone 'batty' with frustration when a new scan result popped up. Kerry forced herself to look though she thought it was probably their twenty-first bat and found herself reading an entirely different message. 'LIFE-FORM DETECTED:- HUMANOID – SPECIES; GALLIFREYAN MALE – NATIVE PLANET: GALLIFREY – STATUS: ALIVE.'

"Viòla!" yelped the Doctor triumphantly, "Got him!"

Kerry just stared at the boy's respective blob, a sense of dread – no, terror – no, no…. oh, never mind, both then – slowly welling up inside her. She left the console and went down a short flight of steps that led from the console platform down to door level, and pulled the door open. She gazed out at the Caves for a few minutes, and thought how much more intimidating they looked close up.

"We've got to get him out," she said for her own benefit.

"Yes, I know."

Kerry turned and looked into the Doctor's eyes, to make sure he wasn't intending to back out. He stared back at her with that familiar look of sadness, that expression that silently beseeched her to be careful. She nodded.

"You too," she whispered. Then she turned back to stare at the mouth of the Caves, and swallowed hard.


	3. Chapter 3

As the Doctor checked that the TARDIS was parked safely, he found himself admiring Kerry's courage and determination. He hadn't known her long – he had met her on a trip to Earth just days before Amy and Rory departed for the Sun of Tranquility, and she knew how to get her own way, but she also knew how to use it for the benefit of others.

Amy was brave (as well as attractive!) and she was quick with her tongue. She was also fiercely determined and, at times, downright scary. Rory, on the other hand, was rather slower to grasp what the Doctor was on about at the best of times and sometimes seemed a bit thick. However, he was very loyal to both the Doctor and Amy (and Kerry, of course!) even when he had thought that Amy loved the Doctor more than him. Kerry had the best of both, always ready with a quick-witted, often sarcastic, remark, and also very loyal – to certain people, that is – and she reminded him of Donna, dear old Donna Noble, Queen of the Oi's, who had saved his life more than once. He quite understood Kerry's desire to rescue this strange young boy, as he felt the same way about it…

Suddenly, a fierce pain shot through the Doctor's head, and he had to grab the edge of the console to steady himself. He clutched his head, feeling dizzy, and had just enough time to wonder what had caused it when another pang exploded in his head, paralysing him, and he felt as if he was falling helplessly into a dark, bottomless void…

* * *

Kerry, still standing at the door, was mentally pushing her fear and thoughts that she didn't _have_ to go in to the back of her head, focusing instead on the task ahead. She was vaguely aware of a slight disturbance behind her, but she was preoccupied and automatically passed it off as her senses playing tricks on her. Finally she took a deep breath.

"I'm ready now, Doctor. Let's go," she said, as much for her benefit as his. There was no answer. Assuming he just hadn't heard her, she repeated herself. "Doctor, let's go."

When he again gave no reply, Kerry began to grow impatient. "Doctor, are you listening to me?" she demanded, whirling around on the spot as she did so, "I _said_ 'Let's go in n-.'" And stopped, the sentence dying on her lips. Because the Doctor wouldn't be able to hear her anyway, for he was lying sprawled at the base of the console, his left arm dangling down the steps from the platform to Kerry's level.

"Doctor!" she cried, rushing across to him. He was unconscious, but Kerry could find no injuries that would suggest he'd been attacked or otherwise. Neither could she see any marks on his head that might show that he'd accidently knocked himself out somehow. The only conclusion that Kerry could make was that he'd just fainted. 'But why?' she asked herself. She was sure that he was just acting to get out of entering the Caves – he was not like that. He may be hyperactive, goofy and idiotic, but he was not a coward. After a few failed attempts to wake him, Kerry found herself facing a huge decision – leave the Doctor alone in the TARDIS and try to rescue the boy, or abandon her rescue plan and stay with the Doctor until he recovered? She eventually chose the former, reasoning that if she became trapped in there with the lad, the Doctor would come to her rescue, whereas if she remained with the Doctor it might then become impossible to save the boy anyway. So, arming herself with three blankets (one of which she threw over the Doctor) and a large, working electric torch – not forgetting the Doctor's box of everlasting matches – Kerry was ready. Taking the TARDIS key and the sonic screwdriver from the Doctor's coat pocket, she left the safety of the TARDIS, locking the door behind her.

* * *

As Kerry stepped across the threshold of the Caves, she suddenly thought that it was almost like walking into the mouth of a waiting shark. The ceiling of the Caves were covered with large, stone spikes, like giant icicles, and, from her perspective, as sharp as needles, and in places the walls jutted out, forming very narrow areas. Kerry wanted to preserve the torch's power for as long as possible, so she struck one of the everlasting matches as she began to reach deeper into the ever-growing darkness.

* * *

Down in the underground chamber, the ancient old man was sitting in his favourite, deeply cushioned arm-chair, watching a hologram of Kerry's progress into the Caves. He could not hear any sound on the hologram – his eyesight wasn't very good either (but then, for a Gallifreyan man who'd reached the grand old age of 2000-odd years, that wasn't surprising) but he could make out that Kerry held a small flame in one hand and had a sense of rigid determination about her.

Beneath him, the armchair's wooden legs creaked slightly under his weight as it snored softly. The candles were playing – some swapping their flames with the neighbours and back again; some were playing piggy-in-the-middle with one candle in the middle of two others, which were tossing the 'piggy's flame over its head; some twisting their flames into unnatural patterns on the wall. The little inkwell was playing with a glass marble on the desk, rolling along then scooting after it, to catch it and roll it again. The old man laughed at its antics, then muttered a word and the hologram disappeared. He slid out of his sleeping chair and went across to the desk, picking up the runaway marble from the floor and replacing it before the inkwell, and grinned, his wrinkled mouth making him look positively evil, and said "So far, so good!"…

* * *

Both the torch and the sonic screwdriver had come into action by now. The Doctor had taken a reading from the information on the TARDIS scanner with the sonic screwdriver just before he had collapsed, and Kerry was using this data with a setting that worked a bit like a Sat-Nav (or a metal detector). The sonic gave a continuous, high-pitched whirr when she was heading in the right direction and short, frantic beeps of varying irregularity whenever she deviated from the set route – which, she hoped, would lead her straight to the boy. She had just discovered, quite by accident, that if she pressed a certain button on the screwdriver, a holographic map of the Caves would flash into being in front of her, giving her information on how deep in the Caves she was and the distance she needed to cover to reach the boy. It also showed her her position in relation to the layout of the Caves, with a small arrow pointing in the direction she was currently facing. At the moment she was facing directly towards the boy, but her path was still a very long, twisting and arduous journey before she got anywhere near him.

Kerry was beginning to feel hungry and she regretted not having thought to bring any food.

_But then, if you'd brought food, _said a little voice in her head, _you'd be weighed down and you wouldn't be able to carry the boy if necessary._

_Yes, but she'd need to keep her strength up, wouldn't she?_ argued another. Personally, Kerry agreed with the second little voice more, but she couldn't go back to the TARDIS for food now – she'd come too far for that to be practical.

It was only then that it occurred to her that the torch was rather heavy, even for its size. Then she remembered seeing a similar gadget hanging in the Gallifreyan soldier's belt. And quite a lot of Gallifreyan things were larger on the inside… Unscrewing the head of the torch, which miraculously continued to shine, Kerry peered into the depths of the torch. Her suspicions were confirmed because instead of there being the normal mechanisms of a torch, the torch handle actually disguised an area as large as a crate behind it, which was brimming with food. Thrusting her hand into this unbelievable – _impossible_ – space, Kerry located a couple of fresh-looking ham sandwiches and a bottle of water. She took a swig of water (it tasted good) and returned the bottle to the torch, and screwed the head back on. Then, munching a sandwich, she continued on her way.

* * *

The going had become tough for Kerry now. She had already created a wristband for the torch using a bit of string and the screwdriver to fuse it to the plastic so that she wouldn't drop the torch as she crossed a deep crevice in the floor by means of a series of tall, rickety stepping stones. The holographic map didn't warn her of these oncoming, nature-built challenges, so she had to watch her step.

Kerry had first heard the crashing of water on rock a while back, so when she reached the waterfall that flowed into a frothing, angry river, she was prepared. She was surprised, though, to see a bridge had formed over the rushing torrents below her (there was a sheer drop on either side), and it appeared quite stable. She hurried across it, pushing the possibility that she might never be able to get across again away, and disappeared into a narrow tunnel in the opposite wall. _There can't be much further to go now, _thought Kerry wearily,_ there's not much food left, and I've got to save some for the boy._ A lot of the sandwiches and other items within the torch had gone off long before Kerry had discovered its hidden capacity, and the remaining food that was safe to eat was only a very small portion. Kerry idly found herself wondering if the Doctor had been aware of the torch's secret – she doubted it, as he would have surely have waved it proudly at her much earlier if he had.

She flicked the switch on the screwdriver and the map flickered into existence, showing her that she was more than halfway to her destination, and that she was currently facing North-West of him, needing to take the next left tunnel. She had also realised that each of the natural dangers along the way seemed to all occur in large chambers within the Caves, so when she came to another of these chambers she instinctively looked around for danger. This particular chamber was gloomy, but not dark enough for Kerry to need the torch's light. She edged into the chamber and it soon became evident what the challenge was this time. The centre of the chamber was more like a giant abyss, dropping so steeply that it would be impossible to get out of. A few, smaller caves lined the walls above the abyss, one of which had large rocks almost completely blocking the entrance, some teetering dangerously on the very edge of the pit. The only way to get to these holes was a very narrow ledge that ran all the way around the chamber, just wide enough for one, small person to fit on. Kerry was glad that she didn't have a problem with heights as she shone the torch into the depths of the pit. A series of large holes covered the bottom, along with a few, broken skeletons that had clearly been there for decades. Kerry crawled away for the edge and switched on the map. It told her that her target was in the obstructed cave, which of course meant that she'd have to crawl almost halfway around the ledge to get there. She placed the torch, still switched on, just outside the entrance to the chamber, pocketed the sonic screwdriver and prepared to risk her life on the narrow ledge.

* * *

The search for the boy was still continuing on the surface of Gallifrey, as the old man had instructed his earlier visitor not to raise the hopes of the people by telling them the boy was safe – he was far from it, in truth. The only person who knew exactly what was happening – well, approximately the most – was the wise old man himself.

Some of the Gallifreyans were completely oblivious to what was going on around them, even, and carried on with their normal routines. But nobody except the old man, hidden in his room below Gallifrey, knew that a young girl, a complete stranger, was at that very moment risking her very existence to try to rescue one of their people…


	4. Chapter 4

Kerry managed to edge her way along the ledge to the half-hidden cave where the boy was without any hitches, by pressing her back to the wall and stepping slowly sideways. Peering into the cave – cautiously so she didn't overbalance – she could make out the faint outline of the boy within, and then began to review her immediate problem – how did she get him out with the rocks that blocked her way? A few minutes later, she had it. The sonic screwdriver! The Doctor had once told her that if it was set to a certain frequency, it could blast through solid rock. He'd even shown her the correct frequency and how to set it. Right. Her next problem was, should she try to remove the remove the rocks one-by-one, and risk crumbling the ledge in that area, or should she try to blast her way into the cave through the wall?

_No, if I do that, I might cause the wall to collapse, _she thought. She finally decided on a compromise. She'd climb carefully over the rocks into the alcove, and then loosen the rocks from the inside and push them into the pit. That way, both the floor _and _the wall were more likely to remain intact. As she scrambled over the unstable barrier, Kerry was glad that she was small and light, because if she'd been just a bit heavier, she was certain that the ledge would have given way beneath her. Then she was inside the alcove with the lad that she had striven so hard to reach. She went across to him, a small, huddled figure in the gloom.

"Hello," she whispered kindly, as if the sound of her voice might itself send the roof to the floor, "Can you hear me?"

No response.

"I'm Kerry," Kerry persisted, more patiently than she'd felt in a long time. Eventually it paid off. At her third "I'm Kerry, who are you? Can you hear me?", the boy managed to look weakly up at her. A look of hope and relief flashed across his eyes, but Kerry didn't see in the darkness. Instead she pulled the water-bottle from her pocket (where she'd stored it before entering the chamber) and unscrewed the lid. She held it up to the boy's lips and helped him take a few sips. He looked at her gratefully, and then sagged limply in her arms. Returning the bottle, Kerry began the next stage of her plan. She dragged the boy closer to the entrance of the alcove, lay him down and took out the sonic screwdriver. She blasted two or three of the top-most rocks into smithereens which clattered down into the abyss, and then set to loosening the remaining rocks around their bases.

Then everything went wrong.

She pushed the first few safely into the pit, throwing up immense clouds of dust as they hit the ground, and she was just encouraging the fifth rock over the edge when the very tip of the ledge crumbled beneath it, taking the rock – and very nearly Kerry – with it. Kerry, not ready for this, had just managed to scrabble back to safety, but in the process, the screwdriver was knocked out of her hand. She watched in horror as it fell, gracefully, away from her. Then the remaining rocks began to follow the first, and Kerry, suddenly coming to her senses, realised that if she didn't get herself and the boy out now, she'd be trapped here forever, (or until the Doctor came to rescue her, but she didn't fancy waiting days for him to find her.) Grabbing the boy's arms, she clambered out of the cave and onto a safe area of ledge just as the area directly below the cave gave way completely. As it was now impractical to leave the chamber the same way as she had come in, due to the extra burden of the boy, Kerry was forced to crawl along on her hands and knees. She had just reached the safety of the entrance and retrieved the torch when she became aware of an ominous rumbling behind that was nothing to do with the sound of the falling rocks…

Turning back, she noticed that the impact of falling rocks had caused a full-scale rock fall, and as she watched, the ledge began to collapse from the damaged area outwards both ways, and a few shards of rock began to fall from the ceiling…

Throwing all concern for the fate of the screwdriver to the wind, Kerry hauled the boy onto her shoulders, turned, and fled for her life.

* * *

Even though the source of the noise was nowhere the wise old man's room, he could hear the roar of falling rock clearly via the hologram before him. He could not identify the sound, but knew it meant danger.

"The girl is in grave danger," he told the tiny inkwell, which was nestled in the palm of his hand. "It seems that she may not make it…"

* * *

The caves around her were beginning to tumble almost faster than she could run. Already, the falling rocks had caused what felt like an earthquake, and the ground trembled under her feet. The boy on her back was slowing her down, but she wouldn't let herself even consider abandoning hi, to save herself. There was no guarantee she'd _manage that_ anyway. She became aware of the sound of crashing water up ahead, now amplified to a deafening roar by the collapsing caves behind her. As she rounded the corner, she was dismayed to see that the stone bridge across the river was crumbling away, and she automatically reached for the sonic screwdriver. Finding it not in her pocket, she then remembered. _Oh blast it!_ she thought desperately. She'd just have to try her luck. She held the boy tightly and ran onto the bridge. And tripped. The boy, suddenly awake, was left hanging over the edge of the bridge as a large section gave way and disappeared.

"Don't let go, please don't let go," begged the boy, terrified, clinging onto Kerry's hand. "I can't swim, don't let me fall!"

Trying to pull the boy back onto the bridge, Kerry found herself thinking, _Just let go of him. You can escape if you let go of him! _She looked across at the remainder of the bridge. If she released her hold on the boy, she could jump the gap and run for it. _No!_ she told herself furiously, tightening her grip. She tried desperately to haul him to safety, but then her other hand was dislodged by the end of the broken edge crumbling beneath her. Unprepared, Kerry lurched forward – and lost her grip. The boy plunged into the icy depths. Gasping with horror, Kerry remembered his pleas. "Don't let me go, don't let me go."

She knew from sight that the current was strong, powerful – they'd both be drowned. But, pushing this away, Kerry plunged in after him. Swimming half with, half against the current, she managed to propel herself towards him. He was unconscious again, and kept disappearing and reappearing in the force of the water. When she finally reached him, she grabbed him and slid an arm under his head, holding him up. She struggled to paddle to the edge of the raging river, to pull them both up the steep embankment and to the safety of dry land, but the water was too strong. So she instead concentrated on keeping the boy above the surface as they were carried along. Then suddenly, they collided with something solid, though wet and slippery, and the force with which Kerry was thrown against it knocked the wind out of her. She just managed to ensure that her young charge was alongside her, safe, and then Kerry's world went black.

* * *

On the surface of Gallifrey, a few people had noticed a faint rumbling sound. Those who were near enough to hear it passed it off as a warren of their oversized rabbits playing racehorses in the meadows, or an unseen spacecraft droning past their planet. Those who were told about it either agreed with their friends' opinions on the noise, or assumed that they were exaggerating something much less dramatic. Those who neither heard it nor had it passed on to them obviously ignored it…

* * *

When Kerry came round, she found herself lying sprawled across a large boulder that projected out of the river by quite a few inches, worn smooth by the continued motion of the rushing water over it. The boy was in a similar position, face-down on the rock. The water was still raging past, and that terrifying crashing that was the rock-fall (or cave-fall would be more apt) told Kerry that her ordeal was far from over. Heaving herself up into a half-sitting, half-lying position, she viewed her surroundings. To her left and right was the river, which still splashed her still-soaking clothes, behind her and to the front of her was a sheer rock face. Deciding that the only way of possible escape was in front of her, she began to scan the rock face for anything she might be able to use to get them both out of here. It was then that she noticed that small knobs of rock stuck out in semi-regular pattern; they were spaced almost perfectly to be used as hand- and foot-holds. Again that little voice in her head was telling her to leave the boy and she could save herself, but again she ignored it. Tugging one of the blankets from around her waist (where she'd tied them for safe-keeping), she used it to tie the boy to her back, before calculating the best route up. Kerry composed herself and began to climb.

It was hard work, especially near the base of the wall where the stone was wet and slippery, but by going slowly and driven by sheer determination and a desire to live, she finally made it. She'd thrown the torch over across the river before she'd gone in after the boy, and she reached for it now. By pushing it hard into the ground, she managed to use it to pull herself and the boy over the last few centimetres of rock-face and to dry land. Then, exhausted, she let herself flop down onto her front and dragged her battered body away from the edge. She loosened the blanket that held the lad to her back and he rolled off. She tried to rise to continue their escape, but her legs wouldn't support her; her arms refused to work. So Kerry gave in and let her body rest.

* * *

"There is hope for her yet," said the old man to a known hologram – that of Valstrem, his hooded visitor – that had just materialized in front of him. "She is more than halfway back. Prepare a welcoming committee…" And he repeated a list of names for the job. The hologram nodded.

"Yes Sir, it will be done," said Valstrem, and he flickered and vanished.


	5. Chapter 5

Kerry woke to a tiny squeaking noise from somewhere nearby, and heard someone whispering her name.

_Kerry, Kerry…_

She sat up and gazed around her, bleary-eyed. Her eyes soon showed her the source of the squeaking. A small group of large, oversized rats sat a short distance away, their whiskers quivering. One of them sat at the head of the group.

_Kerry…_ said the voice in her head. She looked for the speaker but the only sign of life were the rats. She looked sharply at the leader rat and found him gazing back at her patiently, curiously, expectantly.

_Kerry?_

"Is that you?" Kerry asked loudly.

_Please, think your words, don't say them, _said the former rat without moving his mouth, _and yes, it was me. _The rat was concentrating intently on her face, and Kerry decided they were harmless.

"Wha…" she began, then stopped and thought her question. _What are you?_

_We are rats, native to Gallifrey. Like Gallifreyans, we have the power of telepathy. Thought communication, _explained the rat.

_What is your name? _Kerry asked. _And how do you know my name?_

_My name is Ratticus, a simple name. And we also have the power to gain information through mind-reading._

_I see. _Kerry was silent, listening to the rumbling around her. Then she noticed that the rats were beginning to get agitated.

_What is the matter?_ she asked in her mind.

_The destruction of these Caves is near, you must escape, _squeaked one of the rear rats.

_We have something; we believe it is yours, _Ratticus added, and scurried to the side. Two or three rats approached her, struggling to drag a long, familiar object between them.

"The sonic screwdriver!" Kerry exclaimed, disbelieving, as the three rats dropped it at her feet. She picked it up.

_Thank you!_ she thought, returning it to her pocket. _Do you eat sandwiches that have gone off?_

_Yes, we do. We are rats._

_Then take these. _Kerry tossed a couple of sandwiches to the rats, who grabbed them up eagerly.

_Now go, _said Ratticus, _you must escape while you can._

_What about you?_

_We will survive – like the Time Lords; we can regenerate if necessary…_

The rumbling grew louder, and bits of rock began to fall from the walls and roof around her.

_Go, _repeated Ratticus, _and may you escape alive._

_Thanks _whispered Kerry, standing. Hauling the boy onto her back once more, she ran for her life for about the umpteenth time that day.

* * *

The relentless roaring pounded the Doctor's ears, and he had the strangest feeling that he was being rained on. For a moment, he was somewhere else; he was in danger. The throbbing in his head increased from a dull pain into a full-scale bashing, then his head felt like it had exploded and everything faded once more into oblivion…

* * *

Kerry navigated her way across the deep, stepping-stoned hole in the floor with no difficulty at all. Even though she had the extra weight of the boy on her back, she was nimble enough to be able to hop from one to the next just before the one directly behind her crumbled as she left it. Replenishing herself with a swift draught of water, she was running the final stretch of the Caves. The torch was no longer necessary; it was clipped onto the waistband of her trousers. She was nearing the entrance of the tunnel – she could see a spot of daylight ahead. The rockfall seemed to have gained momentum; Kerry could hear the crashing growing in a rapid crescendo behind her. As she hurtled towards the last tunnel, she watched the walls and ceiling for the first signs of it crashing down on her. The boy was now getting noticeably heavy, Kerry noticed absently, as she concentrated on getting out alive. She was tiring, slowing down; her legs were beginning to burn. The ground was now shaking as if in an earthquake, and she felt several pieces of roof bouncing off her as she ran. The collapse of the Caves was catching her up, overtaking her… Kerry had hoped that she would get out of the Caves before the rockfall, but she saw this was not to be safe. Because the force of the fall had already reached it. As Kerry ran into the last tunnel, a loud cracking began above her, and seconds later one of the giant spokes hanging from the ceiling plummeted to the ground, missing her by an inch. This impact set off another domino effect and soon the spikes were raining down around Kerry like a giant shark shedding all its teeth at once. Kerry, small for her age, managed to dodge most of them, but then, she felt a spike, (or a least part of one), glance off the back of her head, stunning her. Though dizzy and disorientated, she managed to throw herself out of the Caves and throw out one of her arms to protect her head. She kept hold of the lad's hand with the other, and the two of them pulled away from the Caves, stopping only when they came up against the solidness of the TARDIS. Her legs and hands were shaking as she fumbled for the TARDIS key, but she finally found it and pushed it into the keyhole. She thrust open the door and dragged the boy inside, pausing briefly to pick up the torch (which had fallen off her wrist while they were rolling). As she turned to close the door to the devastation behind her, she saw the entire roof of the Caves cave in with an almighty crash, accompanied by a great cloud of dust. Not wishing to see any more, she slammed the door and locked it. She stood for a moment by the door, shocked by her ordeal, and then an overwhelming sense of relief washed over her, calming her. Now that she was safe, now that she had achieved her goal, she could rest her tired limbs, her fatigued brain, her throbbing person, and she fell backwards onto the cool floor of the TARDIS and let herself sink into a welcome sense of nothingness….

* * *

"She lives! She has succeeded!" cried the old man to the hologram of Valstrem, which he had summoned back. "But do not tell the people yet; let her show her victory herself." commanded he, waving his gnarled old arms with delight. Behind him, the candles were joining in, their flames breaking up into tiny Catherine Wheel shapes and going off with tiny 'pop's, like miniature fireworks. The inkwell was doing an excited little dance, sloshing ink all over the desk as it went. The old man didn't mind this; the table was very old and inkstained anyway.

"The people will want to celebrate, though." said Valstrem, though respectfully.

"Then tell them to prepare themselves for a pleasant surprise!" responded the old man, chuckling happily.

"Your Honour."

"And prepare the transmit beam in the Panoptican; I'm coming up!"

"As you wish, Sir." Valstrem bowed and vanished.

The old man picked up his inkwell and a small, flat device from his desk drawer. Grinning around at the room that had been his home for so long, he settled himself into his armchair – it was by now awake and alert, and moulded itself to support its master in his preferred position – and pressed the flat device. And in a blinding flash of blue, he and the chair vanished.


	6. Chapter 6

When Kerry came round, she found herself lying on her back on the cool TARDIS floor, her arms sticking out to the sides. A brief glance sideways told her that the unconscious boy was also lying on his back a short distance away. Kerry pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked around. A lazy glance up at the console platform told her that the Doctor had not moved at all the whole time she'd been in the Caves. (Or if he had, she thought briefly, then he'd managed to get back into the exact position that she'd left him in!)

Feeling somewhat refreshed, Kerry staggered to her feet and slowly climbed the few steps up to the console. She stepped over the Doctor (she hadn't the strength to move him; besides, he was fine where he was) and reached for the scanner. She switched it on and it flared into life. At first, she wondered if the TARDIS had moved of its own accord, so different was the landscape. Then she realised that the TARDIS had not moved at all; it was the fact that the Caves were no longer standing, no longer blocking the horizon, no longer a threat… no longer there. All that was left of the Forbidden Caves was a very large pile of rubble and a hazy dust cloud hadn't yet settled. At that moment, Kerry felt the enormity of what she'd just done hit her, filling her with disbelief and a sense of exhilaration –_she_ had achieved what the Gallifreyans couldn't and had saved a boy on her own!

She began to adjust the screen to show her a panoramic view of the TARDIS's surroundings. As the scanner swept slowly around, Kerry spotted a small group of Gallifreyans slowly trudging up towards the TARDIS, which she correctly guessed was her welcoming committee. She zoomed in on their faces and saw that each member wore an expression of utter disbelief and pure joy, and just a hint of awe and wonderment. She felt a slight pang of smug satisfaction at this as she flicked the scanner off and sank wearily into the tattered old leather chair that lived by the console (presumably for the Doctor to land on should his spaceship break too fast!). She sat there and thought about her narrow escape from those Caves, with the boy too, and how fortunate she was. It also dawned on her that she must have been asleep for quite a while, as she was no longer dripping wet from crossing the river, as she had been when she had been in the Caves. Of course, all that running would have dried her off a bit, but now she was as dry as dry can be, and there was no sign of the puddle of water that she vaguely remembered lying in…

However, she decided, she did not want to dwell on those terrors she'd only just put behind her, and instead she just let herself relax. She wouldn't budge until it was absolutely necessary.

_But what about the approaching people?_ asked that little voice in her head, anxiously.

_What about them?_ Kerry closed her eyes indifferently. _Let them approach. When the Doctor and the boy come round, _then _we can go out to meet them. Until then, they can wait._

* * *

He was on a cold, smooth floor. His arms and legs felt like lead, and he was aware of a slight headache, but that was subsiding already. He opened his eyes with an effort and looked blearily around him. Where was he? He knew he was no longer in the Caves – he remembered the girl who had come for him –but where _was _he? As he stared blankly at the ceiling, he felt a strange wave of déjà vu wash over him; somehow, this 'place' seemed familiar. Groaning softly, he pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked about him. And then, suddenly, he knew where he was. He was in a TARDIS! And, he noted with a pang of glee, from what he could see from its shape and build, it was a Type 40 model! He cast his eyes around, his eyes drinking in the interior of this wonderful ship. He looked towards the console on its small platform, and frowned slightly when he saw a tall, thin man – who appeared to be asleep – lying on the floor next to the console. Why did he think he vaguely recognise the sleeper when he was sure he'd never seen the man before? _It's probably my mind playing tricks, _he thought, and dismissed it.

He looked around for the girl who had rescued him, but he could neither see nor hear her. A terrifying idea occurred to him; maybe this was just a terrible dream! A hallucination! Maybe the girl had just been an element of his imagination! For a moment he lay in a horrified stupor, before reason finally kicked in.

_Why would you be dreaming a TARDIS? _asked a little voice in his mind. _After all, you've never actually seen _inside _one, so if this _is _a dream – which it isn't –, how do you know what it looks like? And why would you dream of a man you've never seen before?_

_But I _have _seen him before, _thought the boy, _I just don't know _where…

_Does that matter? _persisted the voice, _The TARDIS is perfectly real…_

The boy groaned again, loader this time, as he struggled to push himself off his elbows and into a sitting position. He couldn't believe just how stiff his limbs were; they were trying to go in every direction except the one he wanted them to go in. _Ow! _he thought as he fell back onto his elbows with a thud. He tried again, and as he did so he heard footsteps approaching him. He paused and looked up, and there was the girl, coming down the steps that led up to the platform on which the console stood.

"Hi" she said as she reached his side and crouched down. The boy didn't answer immediately and resumed his efforts to rise into a sitting position. He was slightly surprised when he felt the girl's hands grip his arms and pull him up so that he was sitting up with his body leaning on hers for support.

"Thanks." he said gratefully. For a moment, he just sat and enjoyed the warmth of the girl's body; it was a welcome change from the hard, cold stone he'd had till a short while ago. Then he looked up at her scratched face and her long, browny-blond hair…and had a sudden feeling that he knew _her _too – and he noticed that she had a similar expression of puzzlement in her brown eyes. "Who _are _you?" he asked, though more to himself than to her. However, the girl appeared to push whatever thought she had just thought to the back of her mind, and she answered him in a decisive but still friendly tone.

"I'm Kerry," she said. "Short for Kerry-Anne. D'you know, you're the first Gallifreyan child I've ever seen!" she added after a pause, grinning at him.

The boy relaxed and decided to once again ignore all niggling thoughts. "Nice name!" he said, feeling a weak grin stretching across his face.

"Are you hungry?" asked the girl called Kerry.

As often happens when someone mentions food when you haven't eaten for a while, the boy suddenly realised just how hungry –no, _famished _– he was, and his stomach answered for him by giving a loud rumble. Kerry laughed at his expression, which reminded her of a puppy begging for a treat while trying to pretend it wasn't, and produced a packet of sandwiches. She unwrapped one for him and he ate it slowly, enjoying the taste. It didn't take long for him to finish the packet, which he washed down with a long drink of water, and when he had finished, he felt much better than he had for days!

He found himself liking Kerry immensely; she had fearlessly entered the Caves, to find and rescue him, at the risk of her own life.

"Kerry?" he said softly, just to make sure she was really there.

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

And they both knew what he meant.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ow!" muttered the Doctor as he slowly returned to reality, blinking rapidly to clear the fuzziness from his eyes. The continuous pounding that had been going on in his head for he didn't know how long had left him with a very real headache. He lay staring at the ceiling, giving his mind a chance to catch up, and when it did, it sent a cold shiver down his spine.

_Where's Kerry?!_ was his first clear thought. He listened, straining his ears for any sounds that might betray her presence, but heard nothing. He forced himself to sit up, wincing as the effort made his head spin. And suddenly, there was Kerry by his side, helping him to his feet.

"Kerry!" he yelled with joyful relief, forgetting his throbbing head for a moment as he threw his arms around her and almost lifted her cleanly off her feet. Then lights flashed in his eyes and he was forced to release Kerry and grab onto something to stop himself falling over (which happened to be Kerry.) He dropped his voice to a whisper and asked, "How long have I been out?"

"I don't know." admitted the girl, "About two hours, I think; maybe even three." She found herself wondering how long she'd been in the Caves – she'd had no way to track time in there –and suddenly she felt weak at the knees. The Doctor caught her as her legs buckled, steadying her. Concerned, he looked closely at her face, taking in the bloody scratches that covered it. He took her hands in his and examined them with a sinking feeling. They too were covered with scratches.

"What happened to you?" he asked her softly, though he already knew the answer. "You went in without me, didn't you?"

Kerry nodded solemnly then broke into a grin.

"And I succeeded!" she cried, her eyes blazing with pleasure.

The Doctor found himself hit by a hot blast of pleasure and an even bigger wave of surprise. He briefly wondered whether to scold, congratulate or just hug her, but before he could make up his mind, Kerry had grabbed his hand and turned him to look down the steps. The Doctor's puzzled frown froze on his face when he saw the boy, who was watching him with interest. He broke into a grin, vaulted down all the steps at once, and skidded across to the lad.

"Hello," he said cheerfully, "I'm the Doctor. And this Kerry…perhaps you've already met. Yes, you probably have. Anyway, hi. Kerry, have you seen my sonic screwdriver?" He said all this in a single breath, patting his pockets all the while. Kerry tossed the screwdriver to him and watched as he waved it in the lad's direction. He momentarily focused the sonic's green light at the boy's head, and Kerry knew, from the way that the lad's face grew pink again, that the Doctor had just given him a subtle energy boost using the sonic's – well, sonic – energy. When he'd finished, the Doctor skipped back across to Kerry, leaving the boy staring into the middle distance with a look of utter wonderment on his face. Then he turned to his friend.

"I can fix those scratches with the sonic, if you like." he offered gently. Kerry turned and looked up at him with a playfully dubious expression.

"Can you do that? _Without _rewriting my DNA?" she teased. The Doctor gave her a pained look, twiddled a setting on the sonic and waved it vaguely over her from head to toe. Kerry felt a strange, warm and prickly sensation spread across her body and she closed her eyes. She could feel the scratches knitting back together – she was pleasantly surprised at the lack of pain – and a few seconds later she opened her eyes and gazed in wonder at her now good-as-new hands.

"Wow!" was all she managed as she felt the renewed skin on her face. "Thanks!" She gave the Doctor a brief hug before going across to the boy and taking him by the hand. "Oh, by the way, there's a group of Gallifreyans outside." she told him before she disappeared down the corridor towards the nearest bathroom, with the boy in tow, for a wash, followed by a visit to Kerry's bedroom for a set of clean, dry clothes each.

* * *

"Come, one and all; the boy is found!"

This was the shout that rang out across Gallifrey in every direction, and the people were soon flocking to the Panoptican for the celebratory feast that had been prepared. Almost everyone was there; the adults talking and laughing, happy to have an excuse to let their hair down, and the children were playing together and laughing merrily, delighted to have an excuse for finishing their lessons or chores early. Everyone was talking about the young stranger who had apparently caused all these celebrations, and those who had not heard about the lost boy, the frantic search or the girl who had saved him were soon told.

* * *

Kerry was feeling completely awed (not to mention full-up; the feast had been amazing) by the spectacular scene before her, and the buzz of activity reminded her distinctly of a hive of busily working bees, the only real difference being that these people were having fun rather than making honey.

She was sitting at a table – a short distance away from the masses – with the Doctor, the boy and a small group of high-up Gallifreyan people. Among the 'Nobs' at the table were two that stuck particularly in her mind. The first was a tall man in a green, satin robe, whose name was Chancellor Valstrem – he had been the leader of the party who had escorted Kerry and her two friends here from the TARDIS –, and the other was a grizzled old man who wore a fine, hooded burgundy cloak that almost gave him a really mysterious air, and sat in a large, comfortable-looking armchair (which, to Kerry's surprise and amusement, was snoring gently.) He seemed slightly awkward about being among so many people, and kept teasing a tiny inkwell that sat on the table before him, trying to play with his outstretched finger in much the same way that a kitten tries to play with its mother's tail. The man's name was Elder Marcarstam, but he only revealed this after making everyone at the 'Royal' table (as it was known) – who didn't already know his name – swear to secrecy on the subject.

"The time is near for my identity to be revealed, but until then it must not be spoken of." he explained solemnly.

Also at the table was the leader of the group who had first brought the lad's disappearance to Kerry's attention, whose name turned out to be Commander Flayden, though to most people he was simply the Castellan. He was dressed in a resplendent orange robe, and wore a rather show-offy and heavy-looking headpiece that must have been uncomfortable to wear. However, he wore it with dignity, and he received many respectful gestures wherever he turned (which he courteously returned. Even the children were politely acknowledged as they ran passed, waving). Beside him sat the handsome young man who Kerry had correctly guessed was his second-in-command; _his _name was Captain Ronan, and his robes were bright yellow. He caught Kerry's eye, across the table, and threw her a discreet and embarrassed grin that said "I know how you feel; _I_ felt out of place when Ifirst sat up here with the Nobs." Kerry couldn't help but grin (rather weakly) back.

At the head of the table sat the Lord President (Kerry didn't know his name); a rather sprightly man for someone his age. He always had at least two attendants at any one time, but he treated them very nobly.

"That meal was exquisite." he said appreciatively, glancing meaningfully at the smart man on Kerry's left. (This was Vice-President Borusa, according to the boy, who was sitting on her right.) Clearly, this look was the smart man's cue, as he immediately pushed back his chair, saying "Now it is time for me to make an announcement to the people." as he rose and made his way towards the President's chair. He bowed deeply before taking the old man by the hand and gently helping him to his feet. As the President stood, so did the rest of the immense crowd (_so many colours! _thought Kerry as the sunlight reflected off the Gallifreyans' robes), and they remained standing until the President was settled into a grand-looking chair atop the small platform that had been rigged up for the event. Valstrem and Marcarstam followed (Valstrem walked, but Marcarstam remained seated in his armchair which somehow managed to transport him from the table to his place on the platform –beside Valstrem –without appearing to have actually moved!).

Once Valstrem had taken his place between the President and Marcarstam – and Flayden, Ronan and the Chancellory Guard (which Flayden was the Head of) had taken their positions flanking the dais –, Borusa, who was standing on the President's right, cleared his throat and began to speak, loudly and clearly.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Gallifrey…"


	8. Chapter 8

It was much quieter now; the day was drawing to an end. After pulling together to help clear up the vast mess that is the result of all large parties, most of the Gallifreyans had now gone home. The tables and chairs were being tidied away by a team of large, robot-like wooden servants – the Drudges – who worked with monotonous efficiency. As well as Kerry, the Doctor and the boy, only a handful of Gallifreyans had remained; among them were Marcarstam (who had given to two youngsters permission to call him 'Old Marc', seeing as his full name was rather a mouthful), Valstrem, Flayden, the President and Vice-President Borusa. (Ronan was around somewhere, with the Chancellory Guard; if Kerry had been looking, she would have spotted him peering out from behind whatever he was hiding behind.)

The small company were watching the dazzling sunsets (each of Gallifrey's three suns went down about 10 minutes apart) and mulling over the day's events. Kerry was trying to sort something out in her head; something that Old Marc had revealed during the speeches to the people.

"How did you know about me going into the Caves?" she asked him finally. "You appear to have known even _before _we arrived!"

"I knew even before you were _born_ that you'd come," Old Marc replied with some amusement. "I am a Foreseer; the most powerful on (or in this case, under) Gallifrey. I saw a prophesy that one day, a young, lonely traveller would disappear and be in grave danger, but that a young girl by the name of Kerry-Anne would rescue him from harm. You, that girl called Kerry-Anne, fulfilled that age-old prophesy when you rescued our young friend here."

"Young, lonely traveller…" murmured the Doctor to himself. "Hmmm…"

Old Marc appeared not to notice this, and settled back in his chair, caressing his playful inkwell. He gazed again at the spectacle of the sunsets, and it was a long minute before he spoke again.

"You will be remembered forever on this planet," he said, almost to himself. "You will go down in Gallifreyan history."

Kerry also sat back, thinking again. She had been called many honoured names in the last couple of hours, including 'Brave Rescuess' and 'Fearless Cave Destroyer'. This was all very well, but Kerry was unable to relax and enjoy her sudden popularity. She just could not get her head around one particular fact – though she _had _travelled back into Gallifrey's past, she couldn't understand how she was supposed to have fulfilled the Prophesy _before _she had been born. She was half afraid to ask in case she offended the Gallifreyans, who might think that she doubted what they were telling her. So she just sat back to watch the suns sink slowly down behind the horizon.

The Doctor too was deep in thought. This young, long-haired boy who had been the other half of this Prophesy had just been described as a 'lonely traveller'. Now the Doctor knew that this could just have been a figure of speech, but he himself had been called 'lonely traveller' many times before, and it just seemed odd that all the other Gallifreyan children had all seemed quite sociable, while this one lad had gone, alone, into one of the most dangerous places on Gallifrey. _He_ had been like that once before…

"How old are you?" he suddenly asked the lad. Kerry and the others turned to look at him.

"Eight," replied the boy replied, looking non-plussed. The Doctor tried to cover his sudden awkwardness with another question.

"Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?" he asked.

"I want to be a Doctor when I grow up," confided the boy with enthusiasm. "And I want to travel in a TT Type 40 TARDIS!"

The Doctor suddenly looked like he'd been stung by some sort of intergalactic bee. He appeared to be having difficulty speaking. Kerry, alarmed, felt a sudden urge to ask the boy a question that most people ask on at least their second meeting.

"What is your name?" As soon as the boy had told her, an even stranger change came over the Doctor. His mouth hung open, his knuckles were white from gripping the arms of his chair, and he had apparently frozen solid. Kerry stared at him in alarmed concern as the Doctor sat motionless.

"Doctor, are you alright?" she asked him eventually. The Doctor snapped to with a jerk and leapt from his chair, shaking his hair into a blur and grinning.

"All this time I've been wondering how nobody's recognised one of their own blood – namely me – arriving on the planet!" he almost sang. "You didn't even blink an _eyelid _when you saw we'd arrived in a TARDIS!" A couple of the Drudges nearby paused to gawk (if a wooden-faced 'robot' _can _gawk) at this strange man dancing funny little jigs in front of a bemused audience. "Now I think I know _why_!" he was yelping, "It's because there's currently _two _of me on Gallifrey! All your technology is picking up _both _our identities, but only classing them as _one_! The _earlier_ version, naturally!"

Then it dawned on Kerry just what the Doctor was saying. "You mean…" she murmured, looking from the Doctor to the boy and back again.

"YES!" screeched the Doctor, making everyone wince, and frightening Old Marc's inkwell so badly that it tried to burrow up the old man's sleeve. "Our young friend here is the 8-year-old version of _me_!"


	9. Chapter 9

For a while, no one had said anything. Then the boy's face had slowly broken into a big grin, Kerry had laughed out loud with delight and amusement, and the Doctor had gathered Kerry into an enormous bear-hug – squeezing her so hard that her ribs still ached – before engaging the poor lad into a kind of mad dance. Old Marc, Valstrem, Flayden, Borusa and even the President had watched the Doctor's mania with amusement and laughing heartily at the children's bemused expressions. The boy had been delighted to discover that he _did _get his TARDIS in the end ("You _do steal _it," the Doctor had told him, "but nobody catches you."), and was now sitting on the grass a little distance away, playing 'Fetch' with Old Marc's inkwell and its marble.

But it was the Doctor's turn to be puzzled. He and Old Marc had retreated to the shelter of the little platform where the speeches had been delivered; Marc in his still-dozing armchair and the Doctor in Valstrem's cosy chair (the Chancellor had already granted him this privilege). The Doctor was frowning, trying to get his brain to focus. Marc, who was watching him with interest, finally broke the silence.

"What is troubling you?" he asked.

The Doctor didn't answer immediately as he tried to compose a rational sentence that the old man would be able to understand. (Not because the Doctor thought that Marc might be slow on the uptake –he thought no such thing –but because his thoughts were whirling helter-skelter around his head and he was finding it hard focus.) Finally, he said "If Kerry really _did _rescue me from the Forbidden Caves when I was eight, then _why _can't I remember it? Surely I couldn't forget something so dramatic?"

"Ah," said Marc, and gave a small, sheepish chuckle. "I was hoping that would cross your mind," he admitted, "as I have been longing to indulge my desire to show off my considerably knowledge on such matters, and the answer is a complicated one; however, I think you are almost certainly capable of understanding what I tell you.

"_You_ cannot remember this event because it did not _happen_ to _you_, exactly. It was not _you _whom your young friend rescued, so to speak, but your earlier self. I know that, strictly speaking, you are both the same person, but you see, _before_ Kerry could travel back in Time to rescue your younger self, and thus fulfil the Prophesy, _you _first had to make it possible for her _to _travel back in Time in the first place. _You _have a Time Machine; _Kerry _does not. And no child, not even a Gallifreyan one, would be able to steal and successfully pilot a Type 40 TARDIS – or indeed any kind of Space/Time Machine (except perhaps toy ones, but they are not relevant) – on their own! So before you could bring Kerry back here, you yourself needed to be mature enough to be able to know _how _to get her here.

Besides, if you as your current self, had _not _gone to Earth to befriend young Kerry, then what incentive would she have had to try to get to a planet she would not otherwise have heard of –and without any form of transport –in order to rescue a young man she would not have even known existed?" He looked sideways at the Doctor. "Do you follow me?"

"I _think _so," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "You're saying that my younger self could only be rescued – or would only _need_ rescuing – once _I_, as my _older _self, had A: become mature enough to make my own decisions, B: learnt how to fly the TARDIS properly, C: found and befriended Kerry, taking her on as a companion, so that I could D: bring her back _here _to save me as a boy. But if I – as my _younger_ self – had been trapped in the Caves _before _I had gone to Earth and met Kerry, to bring her back to rescue me as a boy – well, I wouldn't be here _now_."

"Yes. That's about it. Confusing, isn't it? That you as an adult had to effectively travel into the future in order to meet the girl who would one day save your life, and to transport her back to Gallifrey to do just that by saving your _childhood _self!"

"So _that's _how I managed to save you before I had officially been born!" cried a voice behind them. The Doctor started and whirled round to find Kerry standing a few paces behind him. "I because it _didn't _happen before I was born; it _couldn't _happen before I was born, because _I'd _have to be old enough to be able to rescue the Doctor _first_!

"Quite right, Kerry, quite right," said Old Marc, impressed by the girl's quick wit. "I think your friend is a very clever young lady," he added to the Doctor, causing Kerry to blush. She fell into step beside the Doctor as he and Old Marc started back to rejoin the little party of Gallifreyans.

* * *

"Well, I suppose we'd best be getting off soon," said the Doctor as he sat down amongst the party once again. "We don't want to alter History _too_ much!"

"Weell…" said Kerry in a shy, awkward voice, glancing across at the boy, who was sitting next to her with his face flushed bright pink with embarrassment. "I – we – were wondering if…"

"…If I could come too," the boy finished nervously. "After all, Kerry's the only real friend I've ever had – or am going to have – and even though I _might _change History a _tiny _bit, if I end up as this man and travel with Kerry, well - then I'll get there anyway, won't I?" This last bit came out in a rush, and it took the gathering a few moments to find their tongues.

"That's as maybe," said Valstrem, soft but stern, "but…"

The boy interrupted. "If I grow up to be the Doctor, it doesn't really matter _where _in my life I choose to adopt my future life, does it?"

"Now then…" began Flayden, but he _too _was interrupted, by Old Marc this time.

"The boy has a point." he said simply. So the Gallifreyans (except the two Doctors and Kerry) leant in to have a brief discussion, and the two children sat stock still, feeling very tense. A few moments later (though it seemed like a lifetime to the two youngsters), the men turned back to them.

"Very well; we have made our decision," said Valstrem, solemnly. He looked directly at the boy and said, "You may go with The Doctor and Kerry, as much for their benefit as yours."

"Hooray!" whooped the boy, hurling himself at Valstrem and giving the poor man a hearty hug. Valstrem blushed, embarrassed; he couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged him, let alone a child! He grinned weakly, not knowing what else to do. Old Marc noticed and came to his rescue.

"_But_…" he said softly, but with enough authority to gain everyone's attention. "But," he repeated, looking directly at the boy, "there is one condition on your going. You _must _return to Gallifrey at _least_ a year before your future self – that is, your older self – reaches the age when he first left Gallifrey in his TARDIS. Otherwise, History will be rewritten – very probably with devastating consequences – and both you _and_ he (he indicated the Doctor) will cease to exist; indeed, it will be as if he has _never_ existed. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said the boy. "When I get to one year younger than I am when I leave Gallifrey, I must return to Gallifrey so that I can learn what I need to so that I can _leave _Gallifrey on my adventures at the right time in History, therefore safeguarding my timeline and ensuring that History is left intact."

"Correct," murmured Marc appreciatively, glad that the boy had fully understood. "Then go and see the Universe!"

Immediately, the lad rushed to Kerry and threw himself at her so hard that her chair toppled over and the two children fell in a heap on the grass.

"I shall call you 'Denny'," Kerry told him as they picked themselves up, grinning wildly, "to avoid confusion. After all," she laughed, "I can hardly call you _both _'Doctor'! It would be too muddling."

"Denny. I like it!" remarked the boy happily.

"Well if that's all settled, we'd better be on our way," said the Doctor, rising – somewhat reluctantly – to his feet. There was a swishing sound of many fine robes as all the assembled Gallifreyans also stood to bid the visitors farewell. The Doctor shook each of the elders politely by the hand while the two children bowed their heads respectfully. Even Old Marc's little inkwell joined in by scurrying up the children's arms and nuzzling their necks.

Finally, the last goodbye was said, and the Doctor, Kerry and Denny headed back towards the TARDIS, escorted by Old Marc, Valstrem and Flayden. And as they topped the hill, there she was, sitting bluely where they'd left her. Denny giggled with excitement as the Doctor stepped up and unlocked the door with a flourish. Denny hopped inside at once, but Kerry and the Doctor paused to look one last time at the beautiful Gallifreyan landscape.

"It's such a pity it all has to end," murmured the Doctor regretfully. Kerry glanced sideways at him and realised that her young friend would some day grow up into the man beside her; a man whose eyes betrayed centuries of loss, sacrifice and sorrow, almost outweighing the happy times.

"It may have to end," she said softly, "but it will never go away. Remember the good times."

The Doctor looked down at her and grinned, just as Denny reappeared at the TARDIS door to wave goodbye to his former life. All three exchanged a final farewell with Valstrem, Flayden and Old Marc (and, of course the inkwell, which was hopping up and down on Old Marc's shoulder in a mixture of dismayed agitation and excitement. Then they turned and disappeared into the TARDIS, closing the door on the Doctor's beautiful home planet. A few moments later, the familiar grating noise of the TARDIS' engines started up once again, and then the Doctor, Kerry, Denny and the TARDIS were gone.

* * *

"And this girl, Kerry-Anne, came to fulfil and ancient prophesy foreseen by Old Marcarstam the Old Foreseer who once lived deep under Gallifrey." The young Gallifreyan teacher had her audience of pupils enthralled; they gazed at her in wonder.

"She came to complete the task set, the Prophesy that one day, the 'young lonely traveller would disappear and be in grave danger, but a young girl by the name of Kerry-Anne would rescue him from harm'." She paused to show her satisfaction. "And rescue him she did."

The End


End file.
